Messages

1

Equipment and Software / Re: Dead fridge, brought back to life!

« on: May 24, 2013, 05:20:06 PM »

I can relate. Last week I came home from work and poured a glass of beer from my kegerator and noticed that the beer was not very cold...I check the thermometer in the fridge and it reads 60 and I hear no noise from the fridge whatsoever.  It's an old fridge so I unplug it and plug it back in again and nothing...I think, oh well I got it for free I guess I have to get a new one.  I go to the appliance store and order a new fridge (not cheap by the way) and when I come home...the kegerator is working fine and the thermometer is reading 42...next, I cancel my order and fridge is working fine all week....damn gremlins

2

Ingredients / Re: combo hops for rye pale ale

« on: April 27, 2013, 10:56:02 AM »

Great Lakes recently released the "Rye of the Tiger"... I don't have much experience with drinking any Rye PA's but I was more than happy with this beer. They use Columbus, Warrior, and Simcoe.

http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com/uploads/Beer/2013%20Beer%20Profile%20-%20Rye%20of%20the%20Tiger.pdf

I really enjoyed the "Rye of the Tiger" that I recently had on tap because I could taste the rye character.  I don't care for the SN "Ruthless" because I really can't taste the rye in it.

3

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 4/28 Edition

« on: April 26, 2013, 01:12:26 PM »

An APA to enjoy in some warmer weather.

4

Ingredients / Re: Amarillo

« on: April 23, 2013, 04:48:51 PM »

Amarillo is my favorite flavor hop in IPA's and APA's.  It's also has a great citrus aroma.  I like it with Simcoe (enjoying one while I type).  I've used it with Columbus, Cascade, Centennial, and Chinook with good results as well.  It will go nice with Centennial, but to get a nice sense of the flavor maybe try bittering with Magnum and use the Amarillo for flavor and aroma additions.

5

Yeast and Fermentation / Re: yeast recommendation

« on: April 15, 2013, 04:52:22 PM »

I really like Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale yeast.  It can ferment down at 50 for a cleaner taste and higher near 70 for more esters.  It works great in high and low gravity beers.  It also clears well.

6

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Lagering in corny kegs

« on: April 11, 2013, 01:04:01 PM »

50 gallons lagering in corny kegs as I type this.

That should last for the hot summer months

7

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 4/7 Edition

« on: April 03, 2013, 08:32:29 AM »

I have the week off, so yesterday I did a partigyle brew.  A Strong Scotch Ale (OG 1088) with the first runnings and a Mild (OG 1036) with the second runnings.  I really excited about the Scotch Ale since it is my first try at this style.

8

Beer Recipes / Re: Pale Ale Recipe

« on: March 26, 2013, 07:47:10 PM »

Your hop profile is all flavor and aroma centered.  It might be lacking some firmer bitterness, maybe that's what you mean by "hop punch".  I suggest using .5 oz of hops at 60 or 45 minutes.

9

All Grain Brewing / Re: Starter All Grain Equipment

« on: March 10, 2013, 02:36:36 PM »

When I started thinking about going all grain, I looked at buying a round cooler set up on NB.  Luckily, I checked out Denny's site and realized I already had a rectangler cooler and a 7.5 gal boil kettle.  So, for about $10 jumped into all grain and never looked back.  I eventually bought a better and bigger boil kettle, but the "cheap and easy method" has been working great for me for 4 years.  I think I might eventually get into a single tier system with a pump to save my back, but starting out simple just makes sense.

10

Kegging and Bottling / Re: Beer Labels?

« on: March 09, 2013, 09:26:39 AM »

I have recently started making labels for tap handles. I use a combination of label sites on the web and Publisher. I just import images and put text boxes/word art/etc on them. Try these sites out for ideas, plus you can make your own labels on them (some cost money to download the images, though):

http://www.beerlabelizer.com/
http://labeley.com/beer
http://www.grogtag.com/

Here are a few labels I made:


I have also used Adobe Illustrator to make a brewery sign (see below). It's very expensive, but a 30 trial can be downloaded for free. It's definitely combersome if you haven't ever used it, but you can do just about anything with it. You can see it here with my kegerator build post: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=10259.0

Those look awesome!

11

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 3/8 Edition

« on: March 08, 2013, 02:45:57 PM »

I'm running a little behind schedule this year, but I'll be brewing my annual Maibock.  I guess we'll tap it a little later in May instead of on the 1st weekend like we usually do.  Tapping the Maibock is part of our annual Fruhjarhsfest and the raising of the Maibaum - so that will just have to be a couple weeks late this year.

I'll also be racking a German Pilsner to a lagering keg, and kegging a batch of AIPA.

Maibock sounds real good about now.

12

All Grain Brewing / Re: hochkurz mash

« on: March 08, 2013, 02:43:09 PM »

I recently did a hochkurz decoction mash for a Doppelbock and I hit all of my temps dead on.  I didn't see any increase in efficiency, but I really liked this decoction method and I plan on using it for all my future lagers.

Any benefit of a Hochkurz or decoction on efficiency is going to be by improving your conversion rate, so it depends on what your conversion efficiency is already.  Brewers that are already getting near 100% conversion can't get a higher mash efficiency from technique like these because there is no room for improvement.  It's the brewers that usually see something like 70% efficiency that can see an efficiency increase.

That makes sense.

13

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: What's Brewing This Weekend - 3/8 Edition

« on: March 07, 2013, 02:16:11 PM »

Brewing an Oatmeal Stout and kegging a Belgian IPA.  And of course, some drinking inbetween.

14

General Homebrew Discussion / Re: Suggestions for Beer for Cinco de Mayo

« on: March 06, 2013, 06:32:31 PM »

I was going to suggest a Maibock.

15

Commercial Beer Reviews / Re: Great Lakes Alchemy Hour DIPA

« on: March 05, 2013, 08:38:41 PM »

I got a strong orange aroma also, but a different orange aroma than like Amarillo.  I also could taste the orange flavor along with the other tropical flavors.